We don’t know what kind of garden Kipling had in mind when he wrote, “Such gardens are not made by saying, oh, how beautiful, and sitting in the shade”, but it may well have been a continuous-blooming garden or border that flowers from spring to fall. The continuous-blooming garden is probably the aim of more garden lovers than any other type and it is the most difficult to achieve.
Beginners usually start with annuals but soon realize that they must add bulbs and perennials, the backbone plants of the long-flowering garden, and then discover that even most of these have but a short season of bloom. By careful selection, however, waves of bloom that will highlight the garden throughout the year can be obtained from the combined use of annuals, perennials and bulbous plants, such as lilies. Back them with flowering shrubs and the whole becomes a gardening delight.
No two gardens are ever alike as they reflect the individual taste and needs of their owners. Some gardeners like pastel color schemes while others long for brilliant effects, but no matter what plants we select for our gardens we must evaluate them not only in their relationship to neighboring plants but to the garden picture as a whole. A large group of one variety may he spectacular in flower but it will leave a blank space after it passes that will be difficult to obscure. Some plants, delphiniums for example, must be cut almost to the ground after their first flowering so they must be placed next to plants that will cover up for them when they do not look attractive.
Then, in planning your border for continuous bloom, consider the soil and exposure. If yours is a windswept hilltop, avoid tall-growing plants that strong winds will quickly whip to pieces. If your area is low and damp, avoid plants that demand hot dry spots, and if you have semi-shade you will have to select accordingly. No matter what your situation, there are plant varieties that will “fit”. You may not always be able to grow just what you want or some of the things you have seen elsewhere, but there is such a wide variety of material available that you can always plant a picture.
If your time is limited, don’t make a garden so large that its care becomes a burden. A modest, well-kept border, filled with interesting, healthy plants, is a distinct credit to you. But a large garden, somewhat unkept and filled with mediocre varieties, does not enhance your reputation as a gardener.
For a continuous color display, I’ve discovered that 5 feet is the minimum depth for a border. Our English garden friends would not agree. They like to make borders 8 to 12 feet wide and truly they make them superbly. Let your space and the time you can devote to maintenance be your guide, but do not make your border too narrow for you will not be satisfied with the end result.
Obviously, planning on paper before you start to plant is essential. If you try to plant without a plan you may end up with a discouraging hodgepodge of this and that. Look to your catalogs for guidance in selecting the flowering plants you like. Go through them carefully, noting the things you like or with which you are familiar. Then weigh the merits of each, estimating how they will combine with other plants, particularly from the standpoint of height, color and season of bloom.
I’ve found in making a plan for a border that the most satisfactory procedure is to lay it out on a large sheet of paper, allowing 1 to 3-inch squares on paper to represent a square foot of ground space.
In this way I have enough room on the plan to write in the name of the plants for various locations, their season of bloom, height, color and the quantity needed in each area that I designate for them. Then, as you look at the plan, you have an instant idea of how the border will look.
For example, when you write, “Pacific hybrid delphinium, light blue, flowering early summer and fall, height 3 to 7 feet, three plants.” you have a descriptive notation. When you glance at the plan, you get a mental picture of the plants as they will he in your garden. For an illustration of this, see below. If you depend on the older method, where the plants in a list are keyed by number to their location in the plan, it is extremely difficult to get a clear picture of how your garden will look. In printing the plans on pages 32 and 33 that accompany these suggestions, it was necessary to use the numbered key method, but the plans were developed exactly as I outlined above.
With your garden plan laid out in squares, it is perfectly simple to transfer the arrangement to your border area. If you are one of those systematic folk who want everything just so, you can lay out the border area in 1-foot squares with stakes and string, hut staking it off into 5-foot squares should he ample. By this method you can transfer the plan to the ground quite readily.
The border was designed to meet the desires of a client who wanted a minimum of red and orange and expressed the wish that numerous lilies highlight the design throughout the season.
Lilies have one extreme advantage in the all-season border in that they easily fit in between other plants. Three or five lily bulbs can be inter-planted among perennials where there is apparently no room for anything else. And lilies like such a location as they prefer a spot where the soil surface is well shaded from the direct sun but where their flower stalks may stretch up into the full sunlight.
For early color narcissus, tulips, muscari and scillas will provide color. In late spring, summer and early fall you will have many flowers throughout the entire length of the planting. A few show color well into autumn, and some bloom almost the entire season. If you garden where frosts hold off until late fall, you might add chrysanthemums, hardy asters or several other late-blooming perennials.
Numerous annuals should be added to take over after early flowering plants have passed. They are needed to follow the spring bulbs. Some are indicated on the plan but others should be included. They should be set out when nearly ready to bloom so that they begin their colorful work promptly.
In showing the accompanying plans, the background had to he omitted but its importance should not be overlooked. Every garden or border will be more effective if its flowers can show off their beauty against a screen of some kind. Most garden folk prefer shrubs for this purpose, but where space is limited, a fence will do.
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